friday 30th Jan

Hi all! We arrived into Arequipa on the 23rd of Jan and it was real late. We got a taxi to New Hope Home and thanked God for the safe and trouble free trip. For a long time I thought i got it wrong - that i could not stay in Peru for the 5 months and would have to show a flight out before i could get in..this is what the immigration man said to me when i tried to check in at Birmingham.. and was pulled aside. So every time i had to fill out a visa form i sweated lots! but it was ok because they let me board with a dummy booking out of the country.. so when i got to Peru immigration it was like i thought i would have to lie and then get found out and be put in prison or something..ha ha! So after a lot of stuttering and pretending i could not speak at all.. the Peru immigration man said how long would you like to stay for?.. and stamped just that! my 5 months!..

The trip was fun - like i watched 20 films all the way there, the only time i moved was when Peter lost his glasses after waking up and a i was on my hands and knees in the aisle looking under every one's shoes in the dark.

When we got to the home there was a team from Liberty Church there. It was good fun as we got to talk to them and hear all the gospel singing they seem to do all day long.. we even got woken up by it the first time after we arrived. It was a nice welcome really.

The Children's Home: there are about 40 kids and youth altogether.. and some that are older that pop in and out. I still really don't know who actually sleeps here.

Peter and I are in charge of the teen boys. At the moment their rooms are getting painted up and fixed, so we all are moved to the main hall that is like a small church hall in the home compound.

I have got to know some of the names now - i know the ones that get in trouble more but that's ok.. Senor Abel is in charge of the teens, but now a few days in, we have been given our program.. and we are in charge of them when Abel has his days off.

Yesterday and today we were in charge.. and getting to know what's what and how things work . It's coming along.. slowly at times.We both have been managing well but we are with the boys 24-7.. and coming down in to Arequipa center is a good rest..

The program: please pray for this as we are in charge of this :

6.30 Wake up. Abel gets them up really much earlier, but i try to work on that,.,

6.30- 7.30 Make beds and wash, this is really not that much time to get all boys doing this.. and as I'm the last one, i get ready for the day nearly after lunch..

7.30-8.00 Breakfast, and explain program of the day and what each role is for each boy. .their house duties.. this is quite hard at times, as each one has the version of the roles they have..

8.30 Peter and I and other interns meet with David Bolos to talk about the activities of the day and programs for the week.

9.00 I have made a point to make it devotional times till 9.30. This has been a change from what has been done before, but this is all ok because before we where stretched to make a time for this. I gave my testimony today and Peter was yesterday for devotionals.. it went well.. and i have been ok so far in translating.. We played a game ¨bang, bang, sheriff" before we did devotionals today, to get the boys in a better mood. They have never played this before and it was really fun.. i want to make devotional time a time to look forward too and not a chore. i will try to be as creative with devotionals as i can..

at times with the kids is was hard as we tried to get them to do their house duties.. but most of the time really good laugh.. lots of football involved, i still cant score a goal.. ! but at least I'm getting a lot of altitude training..

Monday is our main day off with some other afternoons.

Not this week, but next Friday and Saturday, the interns are organising a camping trip! We don't know where it is but they have done this before.. they said it took 5 hours walk to some valley. The stories of the place and what we might sleep in sounds like a serial TV program.. we don't have tents but we are told we just tell the teens that a date of camping is set and they will be creative and make there own shelters.. they will get all the supports and what works as shelter and make tents.. i think this is the 1st task,, make your tent when we get there. then next task will be find a ton of wood to make a bonfire to keep us all warm and to cook and make a cup of tea with..

I'm sure it will be fine and there will be lots of stories to tell after,..

Yesterday we cleaned the whole 3rd floor which was an almighty task,, because most of it was rubble.. but it looks grand now..

From up there you can see the three main mountains around Arequipa.. it really looks great.. !

Pray for David Bolos as he and his wife will not be in Peru next week and the interns will be in charge to run things with the kids..

Pray for other trips that we are thinking to organise for the kids..

Please keep in touch.. i will add photos next time I'm on line.. I forgot to bring my camera lead..

Ok. its 5.00pm here.. and we have 4 hours left of time off... God bless

blog 23rd January Lima Airport

Captains log, Stardate:23rd january 2009
Welcome traveller. We are just off the back off a gruelling 28 hour journey to get to Peru. Flight was mental as it was really warm. The worst thing ever happened when i was asleep then woke up and my glasses were gone. it was terrible trying to explain what happened as i couldnt see anything and was knackered and it was like having a disability of the eyes. Awful. JD repeatedly had what he calls the "sweat panicks" whenever he realised his VISA only lasted 90 days but its sorted now. perfect. We were greeted by ex newcastle football star Nobby Solano at the airport which was nice. Its half one now, we are gettin the plane at 4 which should be good. Ive already been scammed twice by people. AIRPORT TAX?! $30?! Fizzy pop - $6?! U cant be serious! Keep up the good work,
tarrah 4 now

Prayer Letter January

Mission partner with Strandtown & Holywood Baptist
J-D Lovell and Peter Lockhart on mission trip to Peru.

Follow their trip on
PERU-VISION.blogspot.com

We have both finished packing, and when you get to
read this we will soon be or are flying out to Peru.
We have been asked to do a prayer letter.
Not just that you know what we are up to,
or that we get to tell you of the great time we are having,
but because this trip is an opportunity to really get involved in what God wants us to do, Mission. Because of this we need all the prayer so that we can do our best to serve God and bless others over there in Arequipa City with the kids of New Hope Children’s Home.
Thanks for all the donations. I am happy to say that I have donations for all the homes and youth work that I will visit in Peru & Colombia. Peter Lockhart will be with me in the first home. Please pray for:

· Safe journey to Arequipa. As we have four flights to catch, so much could go wrong.
· That we both get in to the hang of Spanish and the culture of the place.
· That we get settled in to the home quickly and our roles as interns.
· Health and Safety in Peru for us and the youth that we will be with.
· We will be with four other interns from U.S.A. That we all get on well and work together.
· That we allow Christ to get more centred in our lives and that this may affect what we do.
· That our time out there will be a blessing to the home and ourselves.

I want to quote a bit from the New Hope Ministries’ news letter from this past December.

“Who are the children and how have they suffered, how do we receive them or choose which ones to receive, what happens when we have to turn a child down, how do we help them heal through their hurts? I want to dedicate a part of this letter to answer some questions about our children, and help you understand better the work of New Hope Children`s Home.”

“The phone rings and on the other line is a judge from the village of Hunter. He has a 10 year old boy that was found abandoned… could we take him in? We are so full right now and have no beds available. We have to say we will get back to him if we are able to. We hang up the phone, and not 5 minutes later another calls… they have 4 children, 2 girls and 2 boys from 2 years old to 12 years old with no father and abandoned by their mother… could we please help them. I talk to Debbie and we just cry because we know this is only Monday… there may be more requests before the week ends.”

“How do we decide which children to take in? This is so difficult… You see, how do you say no to a frightened 10 year old boy… or to a family of 4 children abandoned by their mother?? In the last 13 years since we began New Hope we have lost count, but we have had to turn down at least 1500 children…”

So again please pray for us as we help and be part of the lives in New Hope children’s Home. I ask you to pray for David and Debbie Bolos the directors, especially for Debbie as she has been taken very ill and had to be taken back to the U.S., so they will not be there for most of the time we are there. So more prayer for the team and workers as we serve our lord with the kids.

You can download the New Hope newsletter from the blog and any of our updates. Prayer letters will come every month.

http://www.peruhope.org/d-1-news.html

Result of Quiz night

Many many thanks to all who came and to those who have given donations and have said that they will pray for this trip.

This is an opportunity for both of us to serve God in needy places where we can grow as Christians and be moulded for His work in the future also. A trip always changes something in you - you never come back the same. You just can never be satisfied with your own efforts in life and wish for that dependency and growth you had when on a mission trip like this. You know you can think that we are taking a lot out to these places, but really we will be blessed as much as them.

We all have opportunities to do small things that change things even if we don't know it. Going to be with children and young people in Peru and Colombia, I know that we all will be blessed by God. We will see His love in action, His strength and joy and more. We are part of God's plan, and being on that path is the best adventure that anyone can have. The up and downs, the faith, the prayer that gets answered, the blessing as the love that is experienced is the most fulfilling and everlasting thing. Because we know that it is part of the everlasting impact that will effect us and others. Let God guide you and see where you end up..

Jer 29:11 (NIV)

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord,
"plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a
future."

Casa Hogar Luz Alba

**this page was supposed to be between Rich's Independent School and Shalom center page**

• Casa Hogar Luz Alba =Light Of Down
• Arequipa City
• (J-D May 10th-May 30th)
• All information from web site and letters
• http://www.travellernottourist.com/

Luis Antonio Chavez & Jay Chavez (Co-founder and Manager)

Thanks for visiting our website, here you can learn about Perú, how tourism effects the people here, our organisation and the projects we are working with.
You can also get more information on the tours we offer (with a donation included that goes towards our project work) and the volunteer programs we have available.

OUR VISION AND MISSION

Our VISION for the future is to build an organisation which is self-sustaining and also able to sustain the projects we choose to support whilst raising awareness and attracting donations and volunteers.

Our MISSION is to give foreigners visiting Peru the opportunity to be involved in the true peruvian reality and Peruvians the chance to lift themselves out of poverty and believe in the chance of a better world, and then create it.

• Within this mission we also have certain criteria by which we run our organisation, these are:
  Our primary concern are the needs of the children we work with
  
• We work hard to ensure that volunteers who work with us can have a rewarding experience, using the skills and passions they bring with them to enrich the lives of children living in poverty (without having to pay large sums of money).
  
• We are a non-profit organisation. All donations are used directly in projects or for legitimate organisation needs. The minimal administration fee we charge is used to employ the staff we need to run the organisation efficiently (on reasonable wages).
  
• We take volunteer complaints/comments/suggestions seriously and work with our volunteers to ensure that we are continuously improving the organisation.
  
• We provide a safe, supportive environment for our volunteers whilst simultaneously allowing them to experience the reality of poverty in Peru and help to relieve it.

TRAVELLERS vs TOURISTS

We take our name from the premise that there is a distinction between the terms "Traveller" and "Tourist". It has become a widly held belief within travelling communities that aTraveller is someone who considers the environmental and human impact of their journeys and actively strives to reduce the negative and increase the positive influence their presence has on the place they are visiting. In contrast to this a Tourist is someone who does not consider or care about their impact, does not engage with the locals in a meaningful way and may cause a lot of harm through their thoughtlessness. Please note: We don't mean any offence by applying the above labels, we just needed a reasonable way of explaining the differences between the two groups. Obviously, terms such as Eco-tourism and Responsible Tourism kind of confuse the issue. We apologise if anyone does feel offended.

The Orphanage (Casa Hogar Luz Alba)

The orphanage was set up (and is run) by a charity organisation called Instituto de la Caridad Universal del Perú (The Institute of the Universal Charity of Perú). Their Mission statement is:
To help, in co-ordination with the government, the civil population which is socially, economically and morally deprived in the Arequipa region of Peru and the towns surrounding it, and specifically the children, especially those under the age of 8, who are most deprived of all types of attention (love, security, adequate nutrition, education, health etc). At the orphanage they offer integral care for those children under the age of 8 who have lost one or both parents, been morally and/or materially abandoned (eg by being left alone in their homes or whose parents do not care for them adequately) and/or who are at social risk (because they have parents who are drug addicts, alcoholics, delinquents etc).





VOLUNTEER FOR JUST $50!
Many volunteer organisations charge their volunteers extortionate amounts and leave them wondering where it all goes. We charge a one-off payment of just $50 (unless you are taking part in the "Volunteer for a Day" project, see below) which is used to pay the local staff a reasonable wage and for legitimate organisational costs (paper, electricity and internet use at the office etc).

ACCOMMODATION DETAILS

We have 3 volunteer flats, all near the centre of Arequipa.

Charlene, UK
"What an amazing experience! The children are so loving and happy - this experience has made our trip! They are all very hardworking and proud of their work and also very keen to learn English. Jay and Luis do a great job - so hardworking - a real inspiration to everyone. We are all thinking about a change in career! Thank you for this chance and for making us feel welcome - you will all be remembered for your amazing work with these amazing children."

Alexandra, Switzerland
"It was a great experience for me to work with the children. For me was the organisation here perfect. I enjoyed the time and you (Jay and Luis) do a great job.....always happy and friendly!! Thank you for this time"

CVII

Childrens Vision Inernational Inc

Bogota City in Colombia

(J-D July 1st -31st)

All information from website and

from last church team trip in summer 08

http://www.childrensvision.org/

How it all began...
Jeanene Thicke first visited Bogotá, Colombia in 1988. While there, she saw the plight of young children living on the street with no homes and no one to care for them. After returning home, she knelt and prayed asking God what He wanted her to do. She was willing to go anywhere and do anything for Him. As she prayed, she heard one word…Colombia. In 1988, she made a move that would change her life forever. Not knowing the language, the culture, or the people, she moved to Bogotá to see what God had in store for her life.
She began to notice children in the parks that never went home at night. As she began to ask questions and discover what the lives of the children were, she felt a burden in her heart to help them. She went home and asked everyone to help. It took one year to raise the funds needed to buy the first home.
On October 6, 1993, Children’s Vision International, Inc. (CVII) was born as an international, non-profit, non-government organization whose purpose is to help the needy and homeless around the world.
CVII’s first home was purchased in 1993. Appropriately named the Genesis House, it needed some work. Okay, it needed a LOT of work, but God always provided the hands and the finances when they were needed. Every time a new bedroom was ready, new children would come in need of a home, love, an education, medical attention, and a chance to be a child.
One day in 1996, it seemed everything that we had worked for and loved was shattering. A man with a very wicked heart gave a false report to the government. Soldiers came and began to take the children…they cried and said, “Please don’t take us, this is our home.” After a lot of investigation, we were proven innocent. God was sovereign and walked with us through it all.
On August 7, 1999, construction began on our second home. People came from all over to help. Knowing that this new home would save more lives, people and teams worked hard to complete it. One year later, we opened the Exodus House debt free. This house is home for approximately 30 boys between the ages of nine and seventeen.
Leviticus House was purchased in 2000 and is currently the site of our Beginning of Wisdom School. In September 2003, God blessed us with a new property for our school. When construction is completed in early 2009, the school will move and construction will begin to convert Leviticus into a cafeteria and play area for the school, as well as a small boys home.
In 2005, we were blessed with the generous donation of a beautiful property only a few blocks away from our other homes. With minimal construction, we opened up our third home, Numbers House, on January 27, 2006. We currently have approximately 25 girls who are ages eight to seventeen living at this home. This is also the sight of our medical unit, which officially opened in 2007. We are able to provide basic hospital care, free of charge, to those in need. This facility has also provided the supplies needed to complete several medical missions where we have served thousands of people.
From day one we have fought for the children’s rights…the right to a family, to an education, to be happy, to have a hope, and to have a future. Thank you for helping us!

Prayer Points

July 2008: Construction on the new school property is 85% complete, and we are successfully building it debt-free! The bathrooms are finished, and the front of the building is starting to take shape. Windows will be installed shortly, and all of the outside work will be done.

February 2009: Official opening and dedication of our new school building! You are cordially invited to attend the festivities in Colombia planned on February 7, 2009.

Strantown hollywood church team going again to the home for a visit in the middel on July 09.

My work/roll that i will do with the Exidus boys home.

*pictures from last time i was with in summer july 08 'SBC & Holywood Baptist Team 08'.

"God calls everyone"

"to work with him"

"there is much work to be done"

Little Ones

I’m small in size and significance, but I’m special so I’m told;

I am a simple Child you see, with a heart for you to hold.

I see the world through open eyes, I bring a gift of love;

I’m a little one who’s looking up to those who are above.

My tears and tantrums, they do come, when I feel I have a need;

Though there’s always someone bigger, whose voice I take heed.

Someone who is my teacher, and guides me where to go;

Who helps me find my way, through this World that we all know.

Will you too invest your time with Me and show me of great love?

Can you help me build a hope & faith in He who is above?

I may not be your own child, or seem as cute indeed;

But every child needs someone to plant eternal seed.

I laugh and love and fill this world a priceless gift of good;

As I know if Jesus came today, that He Most surely would.

Emanuel Home

Emanuel Children's Home
Puno City
(J-D June 1st - 30th)


All information from letters and pictures from my dads last trip. 2007.

Ramon and Elvira in charge of the Children's Home.

They are currently looking after 10 children.

More information yet to come!











......Puno City ................................Emanuel children's home ..............My Dad Inaugurating 1st

Floor of kids Home.

Shalom center

Shalom Center

(J-D small visit)
Arequipa city

all info from web links.
http://www.justgiving.com/100lapsforshalom
last visit summer 07
http://www.bebo.com/Profile.jsp?MID=367137231&MemberId=4315502415

Shalom center is in arequipa connected with the International School of Arequipa..
it is a small school that caters for the disabled kids.

I was there with latinlink team summer 2007. as part of a step team. i got to know many fo the workers and mission partners that work there. and hope to speck to them again about youth missinstry.

I also know Isobel flemming that works ther with the school which was a missionary along side my parents in Peru with Irish Baptist missions.

I have added some pictures of the time i was there helping to build the sensery garden beside the center. and added a clip of Paul Turner that has run 100 laps to raise money for the running cost of the place..

Latin Link is an international community serving local churches throughout Latin America. It's passion is to live, teach and promote biblical Christianity, to help meet identified needs, and develop short and long term mission initiatives to, from, and within the region. Charity Registration No 1020826

On the 6 December I run 100 laps (40km) of the running track at Shalom to raise money for the centre's running costs. Shalom provides schooling and therapy for over 15 children and young people from poor areas in the city of Arequipa, Peru. I have been priveleged to work there as a teacher since March 2007. Thank you for your encouragement and support, as always it is much appreciated by all of us at Shalom.If you would like to do your own sponsored run to increase what we can raise, please get in touch, that would be great!Paul Turner on behalf of all the friends of ShalomArequipa, July 2008 http://www.justgiving.com/100lapsforshalom

*step team summer 2007 with Latin link.. helping to build sensory garden and shalom center.

"for your mission trip.. go with Latinlink.. "

http://www.latinlink.org/opportunities.asp

"my first team trip. Life changing"

"Put God in the mix and your adventure gives a everlasting impact"

"All that is done in Gods name He will bless"